I usually only lurk but I had to respond to this as my T is a a HUGE believer in the power of touch and since I shared your situation with her I had to say something. My T thinks what your T did is wrong, hurtful and an abuse of trust if that means anything.
My therapy involves copious touch, and my therapist takes the opposite view of yours and some here. She believes I don't know how to self soothe safely ( i have used cutting, eating disorder etc to self soothe at times) because no one soothed me when I was an infant/cchild ( i have major attachment issues stemming from childhood abuse and my mom's mental illness ). So eveB though I am 40, my need for touch and comfort is like a small childs. My T believes we learn to love ourselves by being loved as children and we learn to comfort ourselves by being comforted ( at odds with your t'sT's idea that you have to do it for yourself). So by touching, loving and comforting me she models healthy love for me, shows me what good comfort feels like. I would say it works. While as sure as hell don't want to have to give up my hugs and snuggles any time soon, I am better at remembering she cares when we are apart, and starting to get better at being kinder to myself. I too have a big issue with needing things as I wasn't allowed to need anything as a kid. However the difference in my situation is that my T did not initiate affection without my asking for it. We didn't hug until I'd been in therapy for over a year because I had to say I wanted and needed it. Now we engage in a lot more touch, cuddling when I talk about some things etc, but that didn't start til 2 1/2 years in when I was talking about a childhood trauma and spontaneously went over to her and sat with my head on her leg( i always sit on the floor in therapy). At that point she said we were ready to talk about whether more touch would help me. Prior to that if I cried she stayed where she was and "sent me love with her heart"...soo it's almost like you T rushed things and then realized it and freaked out.
I am VERY attached and needy right now in some contextes ( we meet 2 to 3x a week and also text several times a day to "check in" and get some virtual hugs....However I also own my own business, am in a long term relationship, have several hobbies and generally engage in a healthy life separate from her except for the unhealthy coping mechanisms, core shame, etc...soo I'm needy and not needy at the same time...my T says it's VERY normal to get intensely attached and even preoccupied with your T while healing those attachment wounds. I'm sometimes afraid of my attachment to her but my T sure isn't afraid of it. She says she is self aware and if she gives me something it's because she feels willing and capable to give it. If that ever changed , she has promised, we'd talk about it.
In your situation, I'd be devastated. I'm not sure I'd be able to continue therapy. I definitely would NOT be ready to stop talking about it. I'd need to talk about it over and over and over until I felt it had been resolved. It's not your T's job to decide when a topic is done. I'd probably be crying all the time and generally a mess....bbecause if she just took it away no matter how she framed it, if it wasn't a decision we came to together, it would just worsen that fundamental attachment wound. I'd feel repulsive and unloveable. I feel awful for you and for the way your T has hurt you. I think the mistake was hers and not yours. I think your reaction is incredibly normal. My heart breaks for you. If my T did that I don't know how I'd overcome the shame and hurt.
Forgive any spelling or punctuation issues. Typing on my phone...
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